Ruins (Sans X Alphys)

Broken Bones

"Sans! Alphys! It is good to see the both of you!"

"howdy, asgore."

"H-hi, your majesty."

"Greetings! This celebration is only just beginning. Feel free to help yourself to the food. The festivities will begin shortly."

Alphys cringed a bit. She was completely uncomfortable in these surroundings, and the fact that only yesterday the Human had been massacring the monsters made the jovial circumstances incredibly incongruous. ASGORE, of course, was just the type to shrug off the disaster as a minor setback, and since now it was literally impossible for him to die of old age, he had plenty of time to make up for his former mistakes.

"A-are you s-sure t-this is a good idea, your majesty?"

"You can just call me ASGORE. I believe I do not have much of a right to be referred to as a king anymore."

"Y-your majesty, after everything you've done for the U-underground, you will always be our King."

"I have done nothing for monster-kind. But please, enjoy the festivities. For better or for worse, we have won, and we are saved."

Alphys was actually quite shocked. ASGORE was showing genuine remorse and self-doubt. In all her 300 years of life, she'd never once seen ASGORE show even a hint of this sort of regret, save the period directly after ASRIEL and Chara's deaths.

She'd never seen him this shaken up. Perhaps this was what this "party" was for. Despite the mood, despite the monstrous catastrophe that had taken place, despite all the monsters who never came home, ASGORE still wanted to fill the Underground with hope. He still wanted to make everyone happy, and to make them believe that someday they'd get out.

Sans was looking around, giving of an air of happiness and supreme confidence. Monsters all around looked at him like they would some sort of god. Not a hero, not a superstar, and certainly not a buddy who hung with them at the bar sometimes.

It wasn't the way Sans liked to be looked at. All around, he saw monsters, clearly greiving, their tear-stained faces looking sadly toward the ground, toward the king or Alphys, or toward him. There was an impression of happiness, or at least the closest possible imitation, but none of them really felt good about any of this.

ASGORE noticed that the mood was clearly down, and he steeled his resolve for what came next. He'd been planning this since before he even announced the party, which was a long time for him.

"Attention! Attention monsters! Please, listen for just a moment!"

ASGORE cleared his throat and made sure everyone was paying attention before he spoke again.

"Now, I was not planning to make this announcement until later, but circumstances dictate that I must let this out now. I... have not been the king that monster-kind deserves. I was responsible for slaying those six children, and I was responsible for alienating my wife. The human who passed through here surely did so for revenge. To pay us back for the lives we've taken. Now, I do not believe that they were in the right, but... neither was I. And there is no question that I am the one responsible for the deaths that have occurred. On that note, I have decided that I can no longer continue ruling over this place. I have put much though on the subject, and I have decided that there is only one monster in the Underground who is worthy of taking my place. Our hero and savior- Sans the Skeleton."

At that, literally the entire Underground gasped together, all but Sans himself. He hadn't really expected this, but that wasn't to say that it shocked him. He wouldn't have put it past the king to make such a hasty decision. But he wasn't about to allow the decision to stick. He was no ruler. He was certainly no king.